Apple products are facing a warning over newly-discovered exploits that can leave the machines open to attacks from external sources.

The exploit allows anyone to bypass an iMac or MacBook's security without providing a password.

Apple has responded to the news by announcing a new update for any machines running the High Sierra macOS.

The exploit within the High Sierra OS was originally discovered by Turkish developer Lemi Ergin, and allows anyone to grant themselves administrator rights via an incredibly simple hack on the device.

Ergin claims to have uncovered the bug by entering the username root and leaving the password field blank - something anyone can do on any device.

Once a hacker has entered a machine this way, they have permission to delete any files stored on the hard drive, access any saved information on the machine, change system settings, add or remove accounts and alter passwords.

Despite the potentially catastrophic consequences of such a hack, the system would need to be physically accessed in order to be compromised - so the flaw isn't as bad as anything that would allow potential hackers remote access to your device.

That said, if you are running the 10.13.1 version of the High Sierra macOS, you should immediately download the new update.